Gas-fired burners for fireplaces are well-known. In a typical gas-fired burner, the device comprises an upper burner including an upper tubular gas pipe and a lower burner including a lower tubular gas pipe. One such prior art device is disclosed in our now abandoned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 221,680, filed in 1988. In this device, the upper and lower tubular gas pipes meet at a junction. Gas to the lower tubular gas pipe is fed through the upper tubular gas pipe and then through a regulatory orifice at this junction. This regulatory orifice is most preferably a #53 orifice, but can also be a #56 orifice. Both of these tubular gas pipes have a plurality of downwardly-facing, in-line orifices along their lengths.
The lower tubular gas pipe generally runs horizontally above and along the length of a fireplace grate. Silica sand is placed on that grate in amounts sufficient to completely cover the lower tubular gas pipe. As the pressurized gas is discharged from the lower pipe, it moves upwardly through channels in the sand created by the gas. After the gas is ignited, the resulting flames create, with the aid of artificial logs and other visual aids, the illusion of a conventional, wood-burning fireplace with glowing embers on the sand.
In the prior art device disclosed in our now abandoned application, the lower gas pipe includes approximately twenty-six (26) of these downwardly-facing, in-line orifices. Because these orifices are spaced on 3/4 inch centers and are of approximately the same size, i.e., preferably #32, a disproportionately large amount of the gas entering the lower tubular gas pipe is discharged through the first 1/4 or about seven (7) of these orifices. As a result, the amount of gas discharged through the remaining nineteen orifices is disproportionately low. Thus, the flames in the areas of the fireplace adjacent the downstream regions of the lower gas pipe are not as intense as those adjacent the upstream regions of that pipe. This imbalance in gas distributors detracts from the realism of the gas-fired fireplace.
Because it uses artificial logs, such gas-fired fireplaces do not emit the pleasing scents inherent in the burning of wood logs. Scented sticks that emit the aroma of burning wood upon heating are known in the art. However, there are no known suitable means for effectively circulating the odors from such scented sticks which may be used in conjunction with gas-fired fireplaces. As will become apparent, the present invention also solves this problem.